Bombardier in Germany

The main area of business for Bombardier in Germany is railway engineering. As the international market leader in modern rail systems, Bombardier Transportation has been based in Berlin since 2002, where the rail division of Bombardier Inc. has been directing its international business.

That means Bombardier Transportation has a proud place in the long tradition of German railway engineering. The seven German production sites and more than 8,000 employees play an important role in the development of modern rail transportation technologies that let Bombardier set new standards in sustainable mobility.

Bombardier Transportation in Germany

The scope of manufacture at the Bombardier Transportation facilities in Germany covers the complete product spectrum for rail systems: metros, regional and commuter trains, trams and light rail vehicles, electric and diesel single- and double-deck multiple unit trains (with and without tilting systems), as well as passenger coaches, locomotives and high speed trains. This comprises the design and manufacture of complete rail vehicles and individual components, including car bodies, bogies and also electric systems in the area of propulsion technology. Bombardier also offers related services, rail control solutions and engineering capabilities. Over 50 per cent of Bombardier rail transportation products made in Germany are destined for export markets.

In many regions of Germany, Bombardier products form the backbone of urban, regional and intercity transport. Numerous cities successfully rely on a mix of Bombardier trams and metros, as well as commuter and regional trains for their public transport networks.

The most recent projects in Germany include the S-trains for the Rhine-Ruhr and Stuttgart regions, the TALENT 2 train fleet for regional and urban transit as well as a new generation of double-deck coaches to be used in regional and intercity transport.

FLEXITY light rail projects are currently in progress for major cities including Leipzig, Kassel, Halle and Berlin.

The market leading TRAXX locomotive platform is an important element in the current and future transportation concepts of Deutsche Bahn and private operators. This applies to both passenger and freight transport.

When it comes to vehicle projects, Bombardier contributes its own unique expertise in the area of vehicle subsystems. This includes the FLEXX bogie as well as the MITRAC propulsion systems. The signalling and control systems are used in numerous projects involving both vehicles and track.

Bombardier has been successfully implementing maintenance and repair services for many years in Germany, while offering an extensive spare parts management. The automatic Bombardier people mover system at Frankfurt airport has been operated and serviced by Bombardier since its opening.

Numerous innovative projects in international scope are implemented and directed with key involvement by the German sites. These include high speed, metro and regional rail projects in Asia and Europe as well as the production or development of trams for European and North American cities. Propulsion, bogie and signalling system solutions from German Bombardier sites are used throughout the world. Amongst many other positive features, the multisystem locomotives of the TRAXX family set new standards in transportation on international corridors for trans-European networks. Innovation is an important component in the Bombardier philosophy. A completely new propulsion concept for trams is currently being tested in Augsburg: As an international first in development, the PRIMOVE technology allows operation without trolley wires using inductive power transmission.

Bombardier Aerospace in Germany

Bombardier is the number one supplier of regional aircraft to the German market, where approximately 80 CRJ Series and 20 Q-Series regional aircraft manufactured by the company are in service. In 1992, Lufthansa CityLine became the launch customer for Bombardier’s CRJ Series aircraft, ushering in the regional jet era with the 50-seat CRJ100 aircraft. By 2006, Lufthansa CityLine had become the first European carrier to enjoy the commonality benefits and savings provided by operating three members of the CRJ aircraft family: the CRJ100/200, CRJ700 and CRJ900 regional jets. Today, Lufthansa Regional carriers, Lufthansa CityLine and Eurowings operate 78 Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which represent over 70 per cent of their combined fleets. Operators of Bombardier’s Q-Series turboprops in Germany include Air Berlin and Augsburg Airways.

Deutsche Lufthansa is a launch customer for Bombardier’s new CSeries single-aisle, mainline jetliner, which is being developed to serve the 100- to 149-seat market segment. The airline has ordered 30 CS100 aircraft with options for another 30. The CSeries aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2013. Furthermore, Bombardier is the second-largest business jet supplier for the European market, having captured a 26 per cent share of the market in which it competes, including an installed base of 119 business aircraft in Germany. These include Learjet, Challenger and Global business jets.

Bombardier Customer Services has an extensive service, support and maintenance presence in Germany and the surrounding area with a team of Field Service Representatives and Customer Support Account Managers based in the region. Bombardier operates a Regional Support Office for commercial aircraft in Munich, providing a central base of operations for all service and support activities in the region.

Maintenance support is provided via the company’s joint venture facility with Lufthansa Technik AG and ExecuJet Aviation Group, Europe – also known as Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS). Located at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport, LBAS also operates a line maintenance station at Frankfurt and Munich’s international airports. Third party maintenance support is provided via two Authorized Service Facilities in Germany – RUAG, located in Wessling and catering to Bombardier Challenger and Global business aircraft, and Aero-Dienst, providing maintenance support to Learjet and Challenger aircraft.

These facilities in Germany are complemented by Bombardier’s Amsterdam Service Centre, which opened in May of 2010. This wholly-owned service centre provides the full range of maintenance services for Bombardier business aircraft operators in Europe and houses a mobile response team equipped to provide onsite maintenance support.

Bombardier’s parts network in Europe is centred in Frankfurt via a high-volume regional and business aircraft parts distribution centre near Frankfurt International Airport. The facility, which is capable of storing 40,000 parts unique to Bombardier aircraft, acts as a central distribution centre with direct shipments around the clock to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.